"Goodbye."
General Hammond hung up the receiver with a sigh. He leaned forward on his desk, putting his face in his hands and shaking his head slowly, his shoulders hunched forward with the heavy weight of grief. He'd been on the phone monitoring the situation with the Blackbird submarine, and knew that half of SG1 now lay dead at the bottom of the ocean. The general glanced over at his clock.
Five minutes.
Not more than five minutes had passed since Daniel had given that terrible order; the archeologist was understandably distraught; before ending the call, Hammond had spoken briefly with Paul Davis, and shared the Major's concern about Daniel's mental state. Lifting his head, he picked the phone back up and called Dr. Frasier's office.
"Hello?" she said as she came on the line.
"Doctor, our personnel will be returning from the Blackbird mission soon. When they arrive I'll be sending Dr. Jackson directly to the infirmary."
"Yes sir," she replied. "What about Teal'c and Colonel O'Neill?"
Hammond took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
"Janet," he said in a fatherly tone, "they didn't make it."
On the other end of the line, Janet gasped softly, and Hammond winced, wishing he'd had the ability to go down and speak to her in person, but he'd been told to wait for a call from the President, and couldn't leave the office.
"I see, Sir," she said. "Should I inform Dr. Mackenzie?"
"Yes, that would probably be wi- What the HELL?!" A white flare filled the room with a loud vvvmmfff sound and General Hammond dropped the phone on his desk as Carter, Teal'c, and O'Neill all appeared in front of him.
"-More like this big, actually," the colonel was saying, his hands held out in front of his chest, palms pointing in and spaced a couple feet apart. Hammond stood numbly, his face turning slightly red as O'Neill looked around with a peeved expression. "He couldn't have waited until I finished the sentence? I was inviting him fishing, for cryin' out loud!"
"Colonel O'Neill, what is going on here?!" O'Neill looked at the general and shrugged.
"Ah, guess Thor had enough of fishing for this trip, after pulling Teal'c and I out of that sub – at the last second, by the way, talk about timing. Looks like he decided to toss us back in our home pond!"
Teal'c raised one dark eyebrow at O'Neill and then inclined his head toward Hammond.
"It is good to see you again, GeneralHammond," he said. Sam nodded her agreement.
"Hi Sir," she said, tossing him a little wave.
"Colonel, I just got off the phone from telling Dr. Frasier to prepare for the fact that you and Teal'c are dead and Dr. Jackson gave the order. Just before that I heard said order being given and received confirmation that the two of you were lost when the Blackbird was hit. Are you telling me that Thor beamed you up after you shut off your video feed?"
"Affirmative, Sir," O'Neill replied. "Didn't you see the white beam of...beaming...light...stuff through Teal'c's feed?"
"My helmet fell off when the submarine was hit, O'Neill. I do not believe it landed where they could have seen our rescue."
"It didn't. The camera shorted out when the water flooded the compartment just after you turned off yours, Colonel; we all assumed you'd both drowned."
"Ah. Well. The reports of our deaths were greatly exaggerated, sir," O'Neill said sheepishly. "On the up side, Carter's dumb idea kicked serious replicator ass!"
Hammond looked at Sam.
"Then your mission was a success, Major?"
"Yes sir.
The general was about to say more, when the red phone rang from the desk in front of him. Hammond looked down and placed one hand on the receiver, finally noticing the other phone lying on the desk with Frasier's tinny voice saying something on the other end. He hung it up, knowing the doctor would get her explanation in a few minutes.
"Good work SG1, report to the infirmary. We'll debrief fully later when Dr. Jackson returns." A chorus of 'Yes, Sir's' followed as the trio exited Hammond's office and the general answered his phone.
"Mr. President. Actually, Sir, the mission was a success on both counts; Thor has just deposited the colonel and Teal'c in my office, safe and unharmed with Major Carter. Yes sir, I'll tell them."
